The Van'Gu Cluster

[Peter Svensson]

Basically, a cluster is a group of stars (suns) that are near each other.  Stars are formed in cold, large, massive clouds of gas and dust.  When gas and dust collets, it eventually gets dense enough to collaps and form stars.  But in fact, only a small fraction of this gas actually creates the stars.  The remains of the gas often acts as a binder, keeping the young stars together as they form, into a cluster.

The Van'Gu Cluster is no exception.  It is believed to be a very old cluster in the Delta Quadrant, but scientists can not even begin to guess as to how old this cluster really may be, or how many stars may have been born there.
Scientific study of this cluster is not an easy task.  When a ship travels inside the Van'Gu Cluster, the dust cloud often renders the long-range scanners blind, and more often than not only the short-ragen scanners are operational, IF they are extremely refined.  This forces most ships to navigate blindly, causing more than a few to get lost in there.  It is also known that energy shields of starships are distorted by the dust cloud, operating only partially, if at all.  Even communication signals can barely penetrate, depending on how deep the object would be located within the cluster.

Though such things may not seem unusual for a cluster, the Van'Gu Cluster does have some remarkable details to offer.
There are two known Class-M planets inside the cluster, which is unusual due to the fact that we are not talking about a normal system with a sun and orbiting planets.

One Class-M planet is known to be inhabited by the peaceful humanoid race called Yzakians, and life on this planet, Yzakia, may have been born around the same time the cluster was born, back then possibly still existing of a more standard galaxy system.  This planet does now know a rather complex labyrinth of orbits around various nearby stars, some closer and some further away, as a result of the planet's gravity and that of those stars.
This has a very unusual effect on the planet's atmosphere.  There is no frequent pattern of night and day, nor of steady seasons, as well as extreme temperature shifts and a bright brown sky.

Of the second Class-M planet, virtually nothing is known, as it is hard to locate this with blind sensors inside the Van'Gu Cluster.  Though not officially mapped, it is a planet called Neyo Prime, and is part of a system of four planets, all inside the cluster.  It is not known if humanoid life form has yet developped on this planet.
We hope that future investigation may reveal more about the planet Neyo Prime.